Your Favorite Feminist

     I had about 6 Barbie dolls when I was growing up. Birthday Barbie, fairy Barbie, ballet Barbie, fashion design Barbie, and a few cute little Barbie kids. They were never really at the top of my toybox. I paid so much more attention to my Polly Pockets and Calico Critters. Little feminist me would be kicking herself right now if she knew that I was ignoring one of the greatest fictional feminist icons of my generation.      Older feminists have a lot to say about the beauty standards that Barbie has imposed on little girls. To be fair to them, Barbie was definitely less diverse when I was growing up. She was pretty much always white and skinny and blonde. Feminists like my mom (shoutout to the woman I love most in the world) were worried that constantly bombarding impressionable children with dolls that only showcased one standard of beauty would make children who didn't look like her feel insecure. Honestly, I agree. Barbie's body type was definitely ...

   "Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss" This is a very popular phrase amongst the youth today. I'm guilty of using it myself from time to time. Much like millenials decide whether they are a Ron, Harry or Hermione, I truly enjoy deciding if I am a gaslight, gatekeep, or a girlboss (I'm more of a gaslight, in case you were wondering). But does the term "girlboss" ultimately do more harm than good for the working women of today?         Let's start with a quick dive into the origin of the term. "Girlboss" was coined in 2014 by Sophia Amoruso, a businesswoman with a thriving online clothing business. Her autobiography, titled #Girlboss, focuses on the story of the founding of her company NastyGal. My congrats to Sophia, truly. I am so proud of all self-made career women. I'm jealous that they are competent enough to run a business (which is more competent than I'll ever be) but ultimately I am so happy for them.           But wha...

 Hello everyone! It is quite an honor that you have taken the time to read the words on this page that I wrote with my cute little brain and my average appropriately-sized hands. As the title of this blog so eloquently explains, I am a feminist. I believe in gender equality, the fall of the patriarchy, blah blah blah. And of course, my feminism is intersectional .  Let's backtrack a little bit. I've been a raging feminist since the wee age of 7 or 8. My mom was giving me picture books of the suffragettes and I was fighting with my friends for entertaining sexist tropes in movies. Not my finest moment. But I was able to take that rage against society and channel it into something productive and effective: learning. I spend a lot of free time researching social oppression, listening to diverse experiences from my peers, and advocating for marginalized groups. As a feminist, it is so incredibly important to understand the changing vocabulary and needs of other people and to never...